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Are Schools Drifting Apart? Intake Stratification in English Secondary Schools

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  • Stephen Gibbons

    (Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK, s.gibbons@lse.ac.uk)

  • Shqiponja Telhaj

    (Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK, s.telhaj@lse.ac.uk)

Abstract

The issue of social segregation in schools has seen a recent resurgence of interest, in the light of policies that have sought to expand parental choice. Most research has focused on segregation along lines of ethnicity or social background. Yet, the real consideration in the back of people's minds seems to be stratification along lines of pupil ability. This paper looks explicitly at this issue using the population of pupils entering secondary schools in England from 1996 to 2002. The study highlights wide disparities between peer-group ability in different schools. However, contrary to popular opinion, almost nothing has changed over these years in terms of the way pupils of different age-11 abilities are sorted into different secondary schools.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen Gibbons & Shqiponja Telhaj, 2007. "Are Schools Drifting Apart? Intake Stratification in English Secondary Schools," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(7), pages 1281-1305, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:44:y:2007:i:7:p:1281-1305
    DOI: 10.1080/00420980701302346
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    Cited by:

    1. Simon Burgess & Ellen Greaves & Anna Vignoles & Deborah Wilson, 2015. "What Parents Want: School Preferences and School Choice," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(587), pages 1262-1289, September.
    2. Luigi Benfratello & Giuseppe Sorrenti & Gilberto Turati, 2013. "Tracking in the Tracks Understanding Inequality Patterns in the Italian Public Schooling System," CHILD Working Papers Series 19, Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD) - CCA.
    3. Rebecca Allen & Simon Burgess & Tomas Key, 2010. "Choosing secondary school by moving house: school quality and the formation of neighbourhoods," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 10/238, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    4. Stephen Gibbons & Shqiponja Telhaj, 2016. "Peer Effects: Evidence from Secondary School Transition in England," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 78(4), pages 548-575, August.
    5. Stephen Gibbons & Stephen Machin & Olmo Silva, 2008. "Choice, Competition, and Pupil Achievement," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 6(4), pages 912-947, June.
    6. Rebecca Allen & Simon Burgess & Frank Windmeijer, 2009. "More Reliable Inference for Segregation Indices," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 09/216, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    7. Rebecca Allen & Simon Burgess & Leigh McKenna, 2010. "How should we treat under-performing schools? A regression discontinuity analysis of school inspections in England," DoQSS Working Papers 10-20, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    8. Richard Harris, 2011. "The separation of lower and higher attaining pupils in the transition from primary to secondary schools: a longitudinal study of London," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 11/257, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    9. Veruska Oppedisano & Gilberto Turati, 2015. "What are the causes of educational inequality and of its evolution over time in Europe? Evidence from PISA," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 3-24, February.
    10. Masi, Barbara, 2018. "A ticket to ride: The unintended consequences of school transport subsidies," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 100-115.
    11. Luigi Benfratello & Giuseppe Sorrenti & Gilberto Turati, 2015. "Tracking in the Tracks in the Italian Schooling: Inequality Patterns in an Urban Context," Working papers 030, Department of Economics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino.
    12. García, Gustavo A. & Ramírez-Hassan, Andrés & Saravia, Estefanía & Vargas, Raquel & Duque, Juan Fernando & Londoño, Daniel, 2022. "Impacto del programa de subsidios en el transporte escolar en Medellín (Colombia) como herramientas para reducir la exclusión social," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 12013, Inter-American Development Bank.
    13. Richard Harris, 2011. "Measuring Segregation a Geographical Tale," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 43(8), pages 1747-1753, August.
    14. Luigi Benfratello & Giuseppe Sorrenti & Gilberto Turati, 2020. "Tracking in the tracks in the Italian public schooling: Inequality patterns in an urban context," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2020(2), pages 39-70.
    15. Rikke Skovgaard Nielsen & Hans Thor Andersen, 2019. "Ethnic school segregation in Copenhagen: A step in the right direction?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(15), pages 3234-3250, November.

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